Water works
by HR always live on
Summary: Harry and Ruth fluffy nonsense. Ruth's kitchen is underwater, so who does she call to help? Set early S5. Now complete.
1. Chapter 1

**This is fluffy nonsense, set early season 5, before Harry asked Ruth to dinner. Maybe 3 chapters when finished. Enjoy.**

* * *

"What! Oh come on!" Ruth said into the phone, raising her voice because her usual composure was rapidly vanishing. This was her fourth call of the morning with the same answer.

"Sorry Miss. It's a bank holiday Monday, no way are you going to get a plumber. And if someone does come out you'll be paying triple the rate."

"My kitchen is under four inches of water!" Ruth shouted. "Water is streaming from my washing machine, its starting to seep into my living room and it looks like I'm living in a rain forest! You're telling me there is nothing you can do?"

"I can give you a couple of numbers, but I don't hold much hope for you. Sorry. I can come between nine a.m. and one p.m. tomorrow."

Tomorrow Ruth would be hacking into the Iraqi database to follow three suspected British terrorists. She didn't have four hours to wait in for the plumber. "Don't bother," she said curtly. "I'll… figure it out." She disconnected the call without even saying goodbye and then looked down. She was, quite literally paddling in her kitchen. Her feet and ankles were completely submerged, water creeping up her jeans, and it was still pouring out of the bloody washing machine. She'd opened the back door, to try and get rid of some of the flood, but it was only a temporary fix.

"Perfect," she said, surveying the damage. "My first bank holiday off in more than a year, and I'm suffering with a flooded kitchen. Great."

She held the phone, debating who to call. Or more accurately, wondering if it was out of line to call Harry. Because the plumber was right, no one would come out on a bank holiday. She knew it was taking advantage of the friendship they shared, and she knew that he had no expertise in plumbing. But she also knew that if she called him, he'd come. She felt a little twinge of guilt that she was planning on using him like that, which was what was making her hesitate.

"Oh shit." Her kitchen door opened, seemingly of its own accord, letting more water flow into the rest of her house. That made up her mind for her. She dialled his number.

"Ruth? Are you all right?"

"Er, yes I'm fine," she said, knowing that he was referring to her physical well being. The downside to being a spy was that you always thought the worst when you received an unexpected call. "But I do need help and… I'm sorry to call you, but I really don't have anyone else." That was true, as much as she didn't like to admit it."

"What's wrong?"

"Do you have plans today?" she asked. "I don't want to interrupt."

"Ruth, what's wrong?" he asked simply.

"My kitchens flooded," she said. "I don't know what to do, and no plumber will come out on a bank holiday."

"Okay," he said. "Turn off the water supply."

"Yeah, I don't know how to do that," she said. "I didn't familiarise myself with the plumbing when I moved in, and I've since spent all of my spare time doing paperwork on the grid."

"I'll be right over," he said, and she could hear the slight amusement in his voice. If she wasn't so annoyed, she'd be able to see the funny side too. She could break into any global institution. She could track any one person out of the six and a half billion or so who walked the earth. And she was being defeated by a little water problem. Yes, she could see the irony. She sighed and kicked the water in question, causing a loud and unsatisfying splash.

* * *

Harry went around the back of her house, seeing the open back door. "Hi," he said loud enough for her to hear over the rushing water. She looked up from the devastation of her kitchen and smiled at him, a little tiredly. "I didn't know who else to call," she said, her voice slightly apologetic.

Harry shook his head. "Don't worry." He took a moment to look at her and thought she'd never looked more beautiful. She wore jeans, wet to the thighs and an over sized mans shirt (whose? He wondered) with the sleeves rolled up. Her hair was tied into a bun, but her hair was short enough that tendrils had come down and were framing her face. She looked breathtaking, if you ignored the water pooling around her feet and flowing out into the (now waterlogged) garden. "So you need help?"

"Please," she said eagerly. He smiled at her in a way which made her heart skip a beat.


	2. Chapter 2

"There you go," he said, straitening up.

"Seriously? That's all you had to do to switch the water off?" Ruth asked. Harry nodded, grinning at her. "Well I now feel like a complete fool for calling you."

"Don't," he said. "What's a Monday morning without paddling in your kitchen?" he said kindly. She smiled.

"Well, I'll let you get back to your day off. I have a kitchen to drain and a floor to dry."

"That's going to take all day," he said, surveying the damage, including the door to the rest of the house which had about three bath towels shoved underneath the gap, to stop the rest of the house from becoming flooded.

"Yeah," she said, getting a bucket to start siphoning the water out of the kitchen.

"I'll help," he said.

"No, don't be silly," she said. "I'm sure you have better things to do that drain my kitchen."

"Not with better company," he said quietly. "Plus, I'm already here, I'm wet to the knees and I'd like to help you."

She smiled at him. "Then, who am I to say no? Thanks," she said.

* * *

Harry leaned over and picked up a pair of sodden boots from the wet floor. "I think these are ruined," he said. Ruth looked at the boots and sighed.

"Oh, I love those boots," she said sadly.

"They might dry out," Harry said.

"No they won't," she said simply. "They're suede boots Harry. They don't dry out. Or not properly anyway." They both kept mopping, tipping the buckets of water down the sink as they worked.

"Why did you call me?" Harry asked, as the silence let his brain work

"Hmm?"

"Out of all the people you could have called, why me?"

"Out of **_all_ **the people Harry?" she said with a raised eyebrow. "I don't have many people in my life."

"Ruth…" he said quietly.

"No," she interrupted, smiling kindly. "I don't have many people in my life. It's that simple. I'm not saying it so you'll feel sorry for me, it's just the truth. I'm a quiet person, and I keep myself to myself. I find it hard to let people in." She shook her head, realising she was getting off of the subject. "I called you, because… I knew you'd help me." Harry smiled at her very charmingly, which made her heart race. "And even if I was being a complete idiot, you wouldn't tease me, or laugh at me. Not in a cruel way I mean. I just…" she sighed and didn't finish her sentence. Instead she concentrated on mopping the floor.

"I'm glad you called," he said. "I like… being someone you can turn to." She smiled at him. The moment was interrupted by Harry's stomach growling. "I'll buy lunch," she said.

"No you don't have to…"

"Oh, come on. It's the least I can do," she said. "There's about two dozen takeaway menus in the kitchen drawer on the right. Pick what you want." She looked at the wet clothes that they were both wearing. "We're hardly dressed to go out."

"A takeaway sounds perfect," he said, neglecting to mention that he hadn't even had breakfast yet. He took the menus out of the drawer, flicking through them. "What do you fancy? Pizza, Chinese, Indian, Thai, good old fashioned fish and chips?"

"You pick," she said.

"You have a lot of menus here."

"I don't cook," she said, eyes glowing with amusement. "And I don't like cooking after overtime on the grid. Every place there delivers for free."

Harry smiled at her, loving that she was so organised that it slipped into her personal life as well as at work. Every menu had stars and x's by the dishes too, clearly good and bad choices. "Pizza okay?"

"Sounds great," she said.

"What topping do you want?"

"Not anchovies," she said. "Otherwise I'm easy."

"Oh really?" he said, raising an eyebrow questioningly. She blushed a vivid red, and Harry had a hard time not laughing.

"I meant, I don't mind what's on the pizza," she said. "I didn't mean. I just..." She stopped spluttering and turned away from him, face still flaming.

"Pepperoni okay?"

"Great," she said, relieved the conversation had changed slightly. She picked up the phone and dialed. Harry watched her for a few moments, enjoying how she looked, so comfortable and at ease in her own home. He'd never seen her like this before and it was a novelty he was very much enjoying.

* * *

**Thank you so much for the reviews for the first installment. I think there's one more chapter to come, but it might bleed into two.**


	3. Chapter 3

It took half an hour for the pizza to arrive. When it did, Ruth's stomach was growling too and the scent of the pizza was heavenly. "God that smells so good." She sat down on the living room floor and rolled up her wet jeans off of her feet. Harry stripped his sodden socks off and wriggled his bare feet uncomfortably. Ruth watched him and giggled as she opened the pizza box.

"What's so funny?"

"You," she said, picking up the first slice of pizza. "Wriggling your wet feet on my living room floor."

"I only have wet feet because of you," he said. She smiled, before taking a bite.

"Oh, that's good," she said. Harry followed her lead and tucked into their meal. In an amazingly short time the pizza box was empty, except for a couple of pieces of the crust. Ruth leaned back against the sofa and she looked so beautiful with her shirt rumpled and her hair coming down over her face that Harry felt a dart of arousal go through him. He squashed that down quickly. It wouldn't help.

"We should get back to the kitchen," Harry said, his voice soft. Soft, because of the thoughts he'd been entertaining of himself and Ruth.

"Why bother?" she said. "The floors as dry as its likely to get."

"Mm," he agreed, reluctantly following that thought through. He was going to have to leave her house, and he really didn't want to. "I guess… I should leave then."

"Harry? Don't," she said. He looked at her, not even daring to move. "Don't leave. Stay awhile."

"For what?"

"I don't need a reason to enjoy your company do I?" she said. She sighed deeply and looked straight at him. "I know I shouldn't be, because you're my boss and it makes things complicated, but… I'm very attracted to you Harry."

He wondered if he was daydreaming, so he said nothing for a few moments, trying to absorb her words, accept it as reality. However, Ruth took this the wrong way. She flushed red and turned away. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said… I should have just…"

"Stop," Harry said, grabbing her arm to make her face him. "I was just a little surprised."

"Surprised?" she asked. "I thought... you knew."

"I hoped," he said. "But neither of us ever say what we feel. So I was surprised that you did." She smiled, slightly nervously at his words. "And for the record," he said. "I think you're the most beautiful woman I've ever met." She smiled again and closed her eyes as Harry kissed her. He pressed his lips against hers, very gently. His lips were so soft that she felt a moan bubbling up from inside her as the kiss deepened. He wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her close. This carried on for about a minute before she spoke.

"Harry," she said. He pulled away from her, and looked at her for a moment, still keeping his hands on her waist. "Whatever this is, us… I have to keep it away from work. I can't mix my personal and professional life. I won't be seen to be the woman sleeping with the boss just to get ahead."

"Sleeping with?" he asked, a smile and a raised eyebrow making her go slightly red.

"We both know that, if this continues, it'll end up in bed sooner or later," she said, ignoring her red cheeks.

"Well, I've seen your kitchen, I'd be more than willing to see other rooms of the house. Like the bedroom..." He said it so suggestively that Ruth couldn't help the giggle that came out. "More seriously, yes," he said. "I think it would be wise to keep our relationship… private."

"Good," she said. She smiled again and he kissed her once more. She flicked her tongue against the seam of his lips and he opened his mouth, deepening the embrace. His arms went around her, pulling her body close to his, her soft flesh warm and desirable through the layers of clothing they wore.

Her fingers ran over the back of his neck, in a teasing way which made him want her, desperately. His self control was rapidly disappearing as their kiss carried on, for longer and longer. Neither of them could pull away. He couldn't help himself. He unbuttoned two buttons of her shirt, and reluctantly pulled away from her lips. "Tell me if you want to stop," he breathed heavily.

"Oh no," she said, smiling and her blue eyes bright with desire. "I don't want to stop."

He kissed her again. "Good," he said against her lips. His hand slid inside her shirt and squeezed her warm full breast lightly. She moaned with pleasure and pressed her body closer to his. He slipped another button free, and then another as Ruth's hands pushed his shirt upwards, her fingers splaying on his back. Within a few minutes they were both lying on the floor, their limbs tangled together and their shirts both barely clinging on. Harry pushed his knee between her legs, without even thinking about it as he stroked her hair. He looked into her beautiful blue eyes and smiled. There was complete honesty and trust between them and they both knew it.

"I'm really glad my kitchen flooded," she said.

"Mm," he said. "So am I."

* * *

**The end. Hope you enjoyed and thanks for the reviews. Hope you have a few seconds to leave one more.**


End file.
